EG: "There is a confession I have to make, and it's as well that I get it out of the way now. I suck. At Bomberman 2. I am endlessly found hanging around just inside the blast radius of my own bombs, joyfully entering cul-de-sacs in front of hungrier, more talented players and gleefully toddling over to poison skulls to savour their various debilitating flavours. I'll loiter quite blithely on floors flickering with the ominous orange of impending flames and stare, entranced, at the sparking laser warming up just in front of me. And this is just single-player - traditionally the relatively sedate and simple cousin of the main, multiplayer, event. The Stephen to multiplayer's Alec."
The multiplayer is as riotous as ever, with the usual panoply of options, settings, and arenas for play with eight of your friends. But of course Bomberman rarely falters when it comes to multiplayer. No, what's important here is that Hudson Soft has developed a single-player component that's almost as addictive as the multiplayer, and furthermore, one that's perfectly suited to the ten-minute blasts of play DS supports so well.
ONM writes: "There are approximately 40 Bomberman games on the DS (give or take 36 or so) so calling this one Bomberman 2 is a bit of a cheeky move. In fairness, regardless of the title, this is probably the best handheld Bomberman game we've played."
Apart from his oddly huge legs, Bomberman's recent cosmetic surgery has gone well. Rather than a... well, whatever he was before, he's now an antivirus program, fighting in a silly sci-fi setting for the future of mankind.
The story may be nonsense, but it's the same classic Bomberman underneath. The single-player's been fleshed out: the game still involves blowing up enemies, but you'll now be rewarded with experience points for doing so. Equipment can also be acquired, hidden in the game's unlimited supply of breakable blocks. These affect your defence, speed and so on.
